Chapter 79: Stealing The “pluto” Blueprints
The sun had completely set, and a crescent moon climbed into the sky.
The streetlights came on entirely just a few seconds after the sun disappeared, their bright glow illuminating the waterway and creating shimmering ripples. A large fish named Buru nimbly navigated the waterway, with night-tour maids riding in the vehicle mounted on its back.
Fran sat in the driver’s seat, holding the reins. It hadn’t taken her long to learn the technique of controlling Buru.
Three more maids sat behind her; they were all Fran’s subordinates.
As Elus’s personal maid, Fran held a high status. She only needed to obey Elus’s orders. Even the head maid in the royal palace had no authority to command Fran. In truth, she was the designated next head maid. As soon as Elus inherited the throne, Fran would naturally become the new head maid.
“Sister Fran, I see that pervert.”
One of the maids in the back seat spoke up to remind her.
On the seaside street, a dozen drunken men and women were strolling along the street. They held wine bottles high in their hands, talking loudly and letting out resounding laughter. Leading them was a man wearing a polka-dot red shirt and blue swim trunks.
This was the target person.
They had been investigating this man for the past few days and had long since memorized the pervert’s appearance. They recognized him immediately from afar. Well, a pervert with such a distinctive style didn’t even need deliberate memorization; anyone who saw him would likely be left with a deep impression.
“Don’t bother with him yet. It’s still early!”
Fran flicked the reins. The Buru rented from the hotel let out two calls and picked up speed, racing along the waterway like an arrow loosed from a bow. It overtook five or six Burus blocking the way ahead in one go. This reckless speeding drew a string of dissatisfied shouts.
But once the complaining people got a clear look at Fran and the others, they immediately fell silent.
They recognized these maids.
After all, the hottest topic in the city these past few days was Elus staying at the Raccoon Dog Hotel. News from the New World was too distant for Paradise’s residents, but they knew the Seven Warlords were top-tier big shots. Just seeing Mayor Iceberg receive him with the highest honors made it clear they shouldn’t provoke this Black Prince.
Moreover, the Black Prince’s maids had proven with their actions to Water 7’s lawbreakers that they were not to be trifled with.
Fortunately, Fran was focused on speeding along on Buru and ignored those left behind along with the quails hunching their necks atop them.
Time passed bit by bit.
When the moon reached its zenith and the pedestrians and Burus on the streets and waterways dwindled, Fran, having had her fun, tossed aside the reins. She took Water 7’s specialty snack “watery meat” from the basket beside the seat and fed it to the panting, exhausted Buru.
She took a sip from the water cup and looked around.
This was the backstreet.
It was Water 7’s most chaotic territory and also where the target was located. Most of the streetlights here had been vandalized, and at this hour, there were hardly any bright lights to be seen. This formed a stark contrast with the brilliant city behind them.
No other Buru could be seen on the wide waterway.
At this time, no one dared to come to the backstreet to play. Even addicts mostly came here during the day to buy stuff. The backstreet at night… was even more dangerous than during the day.
“Whew!”
Fran exhaled a breath of hot air.
The wind blowing in from the sea carried a chilling chill, sapping the warmth from her body. She rubbed her hands. “Let’s move out! First, deal with those annoying eyes around us. Make sure to handle them cleanly when you act.”
The maids cheerfully agreed. They stepped lightly onto the shore. Despite wearing somewhat restrictive maid outfits, they moved nimbly like wild cats accustomed to hunting outdoors. They slipped into the surrounding buildings, eliminating all the “eyes.”
Among them were gang informants, drug dealer lackeys, thief underlings… But no matter their identity, they all dropped silently before the maids’ assassin-like, ruthless strikes.
In three minutes, all the eyes along the way had been cleared out.
Then,
“Hurry up.”
Fran also went ashore.
The group of four arrived at a large house by the seaside.
This was Water 7’s infamous pervert hangout, Franky House.
The lights inside the house were already dim. Even from outside the door, the overpowering stench of alcohol wafted out. Fran wasn’t surprised by this at all—or rather, from their investigation, this was the norm. Unlike gangs, drug dealers, or thief syndicates, these perverts would spend frantically once they had money, until they were broke again, then go pirate hunting to earn more.
Normally, even thieves didn’t want to bother with a place full of perverts but short on cash.
Plus, Franky House’s fighters weren’t weak; they could even be called a formidable force in Water 7. Ordinary underground forces didn’t want to provoke these perverts without reason, so Franky House often partied like this.
At night, only two half-asleep fighters guarded the door.
“Knock them out.”
Fran gave the order.
The maids used “Shave” to appear behind the two Franky House fighters at the door, knocking them out with physical force. Rokushiki—this was a secret technique passed down in the World Government and Navy. But Elus had watched Isca practice it, learned it after a few glances, and then taught it to his maids.
These maids, trained from childhood, all had good talent. Though not as good as Fran or the aides-de-camp, they were top experts even in Paradise. The three accompanying Fran this time were the elite among the maids, all having mastered Armament Haki.
And before the mission, with Elus’s help, they had directly mastered Rokushiki. Not to a masterful level, just scratching the surface, but against Franky House’s small-time thugs, it was truly overkill.
“Creak—”
The unoiled door was pushed open.
The sound was grating, but the people inside were too drunk to notice. The intense alcohol stench made the maids’ faces turn green.
Fran pinched her nose and rummaged through the piles of “corpses” on the floor to drag out the equally dead-drunk Franky. She hauled him outside to the open ground by the door, then greedily breathed in the cool night air. Only after catching her breath did she mutter softly.
“I really can’t figure out why the Pluton Blueprint would be hidden on a guy like this.”
Of course, complaining was one thing; the necessary work wasn’t neglected.
Her hands, gloved three layers deep, first punched the drunken, sleeping Franky to send him into deeper slumber. Then they landed on his belly, carefully searching for the mechanism. According to the news from Your Highness, the Pluton Blueprint was hidden in this cyborg’s belly…
She tapped with her fingers, producing a crisp “clang clang.”
It really was an iron-plated belly.
To modify his body like this and still be full of life—calling him a pervert was right, but he was a rare talent among perverts! Sadly, that talent was completely overshadowed by his perverted nature. Your Highness had no intention of recruiting him…
“Click!”
She triggered the mechanism, and a door opened on Franky’s belly.
“…Cola?”
Fran’s eyelid twitched.
Inside Franky’s belly, she saw no blueprint as expected—only two bottles of cola.
But this didn’t discourage the maid. She reached in carefully, groping around inside Franky’s belly. She firmly believed the clue from Elus: the design blueprint for the ancient weapon Pluto was definitely in there. And thinking about it, something so important couldn’t possibly be found so easily.
“There it is!”
After careful probing, Fran found another mechanism inside Franky’s belly.
Amid faint “click click” sounds, the cola holder shifted aside, revealing a thick stack of yellowish manuscripts. The top cover bore the large word “Pluton,” meaning Pluto, the supreme ruler of the underworld in mythology.
This Pluto was a completely different concept from Roger’s Pluto.
“Sister Fran, did you find it?”
“Is this the ancient weapon’s design blueprint?”
The surrounding maids widened their eyes, staring at the thick stack of manuscripts Fran held.
As those selected for this mission, they were all Elus’s confidants and knew exactly why they were here. In contrast, Isca, newly recruited and staying at the Raccoon Dog Hotel, was completely unaware of the maids’ covert operation.
“What are you standing around for? Quick, bring over the prepared stuff.”
At Fran’s scolding, the copier hidden on Buru’s back was brought over. It plugged into Franky House’s power and immediately began copying the Pluton Blueprint.
Franky House was in a remote location, but Franky had used his science and technology to illegally tap into electricity. The city government had issued repeated orders to stop it but couldn’t do anything about this sticky problem. In the end, they just gritted their teeth and ignored it, pretending Franky House didn’t exist.
It wasn’t a big factory anyway; Franky House’s monthly usage wasn’t high.
Of course, Mayor Iceberg’s influence played a role behind the scenes.
After all, he was his junior disciple, even if officially, his junior disciple had long been dead.
Sheet after sheet of blueprint manuscripts was copied. The specially aged paper looked almost identical to the original, with no gap. If not for the residual heat on the copies, Fran felt it would be hard to tell them apart—truly indistinguishable from the real thing.
Once all the blueprints were copied, Fran placed the copies in the hidden compartment in Franky’s belly. The originals were carefully stowed in the special fireproof, waterproof kraft paper bag she brought. She took the originals to prevent any secret info that couldn’t be copied.
Though the chance was slim, better safe than sorry—caution wasn’t a bad habit.
After securing the originals and closing all the mechanisms on Franky’s belly to restore it, Fran stood up. She waved her hand, directing the maids to drag Franky back inside, clean up all traces of their visit, and then leave.
Controlling the well-rested Buru, she cranked the speed to maximum.
At this hour, there were hardly any Burus on the waterway. Fran sped from the backstreet at the city’s lowest point all the way back to the Raccoon Dog Hotel at Water 7’s highest point.
Buru stopped at the designated berth.
Fran entered the hotel lobby with the kraft paper bag, ignoring the approaching attendants. She took the elevator to the top floor.
She pushed open the room door.
And saw Elus lying on the sofa reading a storybook.
“Back already? Earlier than expected!” Hearing the door, Elus tossed aside the storybook and sat up.
“The perverts at Franky House were already dead drunk. Didn’t need to use any of our prepared methods.” Fran walked over and raised the kraft paper bag, shaking it lightly. “Your Highness, the Pluton Blueprint you wanted… is right here.”
“Let me see!”
Elus opened the bag and took out the blueprints, marked by years of age.
“Pluton… Pluto, huh?”
He flipped through the manuscript, skimming it.
The text wasn’t incomprehensible ancient script. It made sense—when Iceberg entrusted it to Franky, he said it was specifically to counter the rumored “Devil Child” Nico Robin, who was said to be trying to awaken ancient weapons for evil. That’s why Franky was keeping it instead of destroying it.
If the blueprint used ancient script, no one besides Nico Robin could read it nowadays, so how could it counter her?
Elus recognized every word on the manuscript, but strung together, he had no clue what it meant.
“Worthy of an ancient weapon’s blueprint… This is tough!”
Elus closed the manuscript, stuffed it back in the kraft paper bag, and sank into thought holding the bag.
Getting the Pluton Blueprint was just the beginning. Honestly, Elus didn’t think just any shipwright could build the legendary super warship Pluto from the blueprint. In today’s Water 7, perhaps only Iceberg and his junior Franky could realize the design.
“Can’t just kidnap Mayor Iceberg back, right? No way!”
Elus rubbed his chin, frowning in annoyance.
As Fish-Man Tom’s disciple, Iceberg was under constant World Government watch. Kidnapping him… would lead to massive trouble. CP9 was manageable, but CP0’s depth was unknown! But then, did that mean bringing this swim trunk-wearing pervert Franky back to the New World?
He didn’t want to see a pervert cyborg in swim trunks wandering his territory.
“Shipwright… skilled shipwright… Let’s first see if we can train our own people.”
